


You Keep My Head Above Water

by robocryptid



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Almost Drowning, Confessions, Fear of Death, Lots of dying talk and thoughts basically, M/M, Near Death Experiences, Nobody Actually Dies, but somehow it's also kinda cute and fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2020-11-22 04:03:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20867885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robocryptid/pseuds/robocryptid
Summary: The panic was trying to return, but one look at Hanzo made him determined not to let it take root again. He couldn’t control the water or any other part of the situation, but he could control his reaction. For Hanzo, if not for himself. “Anything you wanna get off your chest, just in case?”





	You Keep My Head Above Water

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Since I am sometimes asked: you have my blanket permission to podfic, translate or remix my stuff, make fan art, make fanmixes, etc. -- basically anything that qualifies as transformative works! You don't have to ask me. The only thing I do ask is that you share it with me, because I wanna see/hear/read it! 
> 
> What you do not have permission to do is wholesale copy and repost my fic to a different platform, such as a third-party app that profits from free fan labor. If you are reading this on an app like that, I assure you AO3's website on mobile is perfectly robust, allows downloads of fics for offline reading, has a [dark mode skin](https://archiveofourown.org/skins/929), and isn't trying to scam you by offering premium services that change nothing.#
> 
> \--
> 
> [mataglap](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mataglap/works) prompted me to write a tropey "oh no, we're gonna die!" confession fic wherein the actual confessions are kinda goofy. This is very that.

#

The water kept rising. The only real comfort was that it wasn’t as cold as it could’ve been.

They shouldn’t have come down here. 

The water kept rising, and they shouldn’t have come down here, and now they were going to die, and Jesse’d long ago come to terms with the inevitability of his own early death, but Hanzo wasn’t ever supposed to go out with him. 

Hanzo stopped feeling around the twisted metal that sealed off their exit in order to snap his fingers in Jesse’s face. 

“Rude as hell,” Jesse snapped right back in his own way. 

“Look at me.” It was stern, a command that forced Jesse’s spine straighter and chin higher. The reaction was pure reflex, and it brought with it a swirl of conflicting feelings. Some funny mix of years of conditioning to take Reyes’ orders, stubborn offense that anyone would speak to him that way, and sometimes desire, at least when the tone came from Hanzo. All of the above felt better than the fear clawing at his throat. “They know where we are. And if they do not make it in time, I don’t want the last thing I see to be you having a panic attack.”

“I’m not made to go out this way.” He’d always pictured he’d go down with a bullet. He’d bleed out in the dirt, and he’d take a few enemies with him. Or maybe someone would get the jump on him, catch him off guard, but he’d get a few shots off before he went down. Either way, he’d be _ doing _something when it happened, and he’d have his gun in hand, and if he was lucky he’d have a wide open sky over his head too. This was pretty much the opposite. 

This was only a routine check of the underground facility before the whole crew came in to scavenge any supplies they could take back to Gibraltar. Nothing big or important. Nobody’s lives were gonna be saved here. 

And the conditions. Well. He wouldn’t have called himself claustrophobic exactly, but he didn’t much _ enjoy _ the walls all around, the occasional sense that he could _ feel _every foot of dirt and riverbed pressing down on their heads. Add to that standing in nearly three feet of water and watching it pour in through the seams along the ceiling, and it was a miserable way to go out.

No amount of fear brought on by the situation could top the fear he felt that Hanzo was gonna die too. Jesse’d prefer Hanzo never die at all, but if he was going to, he ought to get a chance to truly believe in the better version of himself before it happened. Hanzo’d come a long way, but he wasn’t there yet. 

They both deserved better than to die in some freak accident, trapped and unable to do anything.

Jesse focused on his breathing — in through the nose, out through the mouth, slow and steady and in counts of three — until he could collect himself. “Sorry,” he said. 

“Don’t be. But stay with me.” Hanzo sloshed closer, wide eyes searching his face. “Please?”

Jesse nodded and breathed carefully again. “You know I love you, right?”

“Yes.” Hanzo smiled wryly. 

“You scared?”

“Yes. I should not be. I have already gotten better than I deserve.” He looked at Jesse fondly. “But I’m selfish. I want more.” Wet fingers touched Jesse’s cheek, and he forced himself not to flinch at the surprising chill. “They know where we are,” Hanzo said again, but this time he sounded less certain. He turned to prod at their closed off exit once more. 

“Any chance your blue friends could help us out here?” 

“They are not exactly precision instruments.” Hanzo looked at where the water was leaking in, and Jesse got the gist: what if they flew straight up and brought the whole river onto their heads? What if they twisted up the corridors they’d come through, just made the problem worse farther down the line somewhere? And that was assuming they’d be willing to attack the structure at all. From all he’d seen, they seemed a lot keener on attacking living things. 

Jesse joined Hanzo at searching for some way past the collapse, but he had as much luck as he’d had the last three times he’d tried it. There were limits even to his prosthetic arm’s strength. 

Eventually he had to give up on it again, and they moved to the sturdiest wall. His feet were still on the floor, but he wasn’t sure how much longer that would last. The shelving bolted into the wall might at least keep their heads above water a little longer. 

The panic was trying to return, but one look at Hanzo made him determined not to let it take root again. He couldn’t control the water or any other part of the situation, but he could control his reaction. For Hanzo, if not for himself. “Anything you wanna get off your chest, just in case?” He tried a smile. 

Hanzo humored him, although he did not seem to find it especially funny. “Nothing I can think of.” Then he eyed Jesse suspiciously. “Why? Do _ you _have something to say?”

“You remember that time I told you Genji ate the last of your little red bean cakes?”

“No.”

“Oh. Uh, yeah, it was a few months back. Guess it’s not a big deal, but it was me, actually.”

“This is your great confession?”

Jesse laughed. “Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “It’s the only time I ever lied to you. Didn’t want that between us any more.”

“You are a _ ridiculous _man.” 

“Yeah? I got a few lies by omission I need to confess too.” Hanzo’s mouth curved up, amused. “Your snoring is fuckin’ awful. Can’t stand it.”

Hanzo looked surprised, lips parted in a way that might have been distracting under less dire circumstances, but more importantly, his attention was now fully on Jesse instead of their impending demise. “Why haven’t you ever mentioned this?”

“Maybe I didn’t want you takin’ it as a sign to quit sleepin’ in my bed.” 

“The lengths you go to for our happiness,” Hanzo said fondly. “So noble, to sacrifice—” He cleared his throat and drew in a shuddering breath, and he looked _ apologetic _, of all things. 

“Sacrifice a good night’s sleep, night after night, to stay next to you? I know. Heroism takes a lotta different forms.”

Hanzo laughed, and he didn’t seem quite so shaken now. Good. “I _ do _have something to confess. I bought cowboy boots.”

“For me?” 

“No. Well. I intended to wear them for you.” He met Jesse’s eye again, this time with a smile that was somehow both sheepish and teasing. “I had to return them. They looked even stupider on me than they do on you.”

“_Hey_.”

There was a squealing metallic sound, and Jesse flinched, sure this was the moment that the ceiling would finally collapse. 

“Agents?” called Winston’s deep voice, and Jesse locked eyes with Hanzo, relieved laughter bubbling out of him even as the water began to brush his chin.

* * *

Later, in the blessedly dry warmth of Jesse’s bed, he drew Hanzo close. He dragged his fingers over every part of Hanzo he could reach to remind himself that they were both here and solid and _ alive_. 

The reminder quickly became superfluous; Hanzo’s snores were more than enough to convince everyone within a half mile radius. Jesse sighed, dug out his new earplugs, then held him closely anyway.


End file.
